Say Her Name: 20 Years of Intersectionality in Action Honorees

The African American Policy Forum is please to announce Say Her Name: 20 Years of Intersectionality in Action. On Saturday June 10th, 2017, join us at Lerner Hall in New York City to celebrate more than two decades of activism and research at AAPF.

We are overjoyed to honor these great partners in the fight for equality.

Keith Ellison

The Shirley Chisholm Political Leadership Award

Rep. Ellison has represented the Fifth Congressional District of Minnesota in the U.S. House of Representatives since taking office on January 4, 2007. The Fifth Congressional District is the most vibrant and diverse district in Minnesota with a rich history and traditions.The Fifth District includes the City of Minneapolis and the surrounding suburbs.

Rep. Ellison's philosophy is one of "generosity and inclusiveness." His roots as a community activist and his message of inclusivity through democratic participation resonates throughout the Fifth District. His priorities in Congress are: promoting peace, prosperity for working families, environmental sustainability, and civil and human rights.

Eve Ensler

The Virginia Durr Solidarity Award

Eve Ensler, Tony Award winning playwright, performer, and activist, is the author of The Vagina Monologues, translated into over 48 languages, performed in over 140 countries, including sold-out runs at both Off-Broadway’s Westside Theater and on London’s West End. The play ran for over 10 years in the U.K., Mexico and France.

In November 2009, Ensler was named one of US News & World Report’s ”Best Leaders” in association with the Center for Public Leadership (CPL) at Harvard Kennedy School. In 2010 she was named one of “125 Women Who Changed Our World” by Good Housekeeping Magazine. In 2011 she was named one of Newsweek’s “150 Women Who Changed the World” and The Guardian’s “100 Most Influential Women.”

Ensler’s experience performing The Vagina Monologues inspired her to create V-Day, a global activist movement to stop violence against women and girls. She has devoted her life to stopping violence, envisioning a planet in which women and girls will be free to thrive, rather than merely survive.

In 2012, Eve initiated ONE BILLION RISING which has run now for five years and is the largest mass action campaign against violence against women and girls. Annually, activists rise in 200 countries through dance and creative expression.

She was previously the host of "The Reid Report," a daily program that offered Reid's distinctive analysis and insight on the day's news. Before that, Reid was the Managing Editor of theGrio.com, a daily online news and opinion platform devoted to delivering stories and perspectives that reflect and affect African-American audiences. Reid joined theGrio.com with experience as a freelance columnist for the Miami Herald and as editor of the political blog The Reid Report. She is a former talk radio producer and host for Radio One, and previously served as an online news editor for the NBC affiliate WTVJ in Miramar, FL. Joy writes a weekly column for The Daily Beast and her columns and articles have appeared in The New York Times, The New Republic, The Guardian, The Miami Herald, The South Florida Sun Sentinel and The South Florida Times.

Reid graduated from Harvard University in 1991 with a concentration in documentary film, and is a 2003 Knight Center for Specialized Journalism fellow. She and her husband, editor Jason Reid, own a documentary film company called Image Lab Media Group. She currently resides in Brooklyn with her husband and family.

Barbara Smith

The Harriet Tubman Lifetime Achievement Award

Barbara Smith is an author, activist, and independent scholar who has played a groundbreaking role in opening up a national cultural and political dialogue about the intersections of race, class, sexuality, and gender. She was among the first to define an African American women's literary tradition and to build Black women's studies and Black feminism in the United States. She was cofounder and publisher until 1995 of Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press, the first U. S. publisher for women of color.

Throughout her life Smith has been a leading force in Black lesbian feminist and socialist scholarship and political movements. She was one of the founding members of the Cohambee River Collective and, in 1977, she was integral in drafting the Cohambee River Collective Statement, which sought to address the multiple oppressions of patriarchy in the Black community and racism in the larger feminist movement. Through her revolutionary work defining Black Women’s Studies and “identity politics" as well as her constant work to support the literary endeavors of Black women, Smith has created space for critical discourse of issues central to the lives of Black women and girls.